Comments on: Understanding density?

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:24:19 +0000

I suppose the population is climbing in some areas and declining in others? See population by continent [ http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_continent.aspx ] to get an idea of population density and spread and population growth rates to understand how population in changing in different countries. [ http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_pop_gro_rat-people-population-growth-rate ]. Also see population decline in each country. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_decline ]

By: If You Think Things Are Feeling Pretty Old Around Here, You're Right - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:13:16 +0000

[…] Originally Posted by michigan83 This is a great post, even though everyone tried to ignore it. We are not alone. I am a little bit confused. Isn't the total population supposed to climb to 350 million, very soon? Here is something I found about some depopulation issues in East Germany. Metta Spencer's weblog: Beyond Leipzig: The Future of Depopulation Depopulation of eastern Germany: Tearing itself down | The Economist Understanding density? | Garden Design And Landscape Architecture Blog – Gardenvisit.com […]

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 06 May 2011 05:10:54 +0000

Good choice![ http://www.travel-cornwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/cornwall_1.small_.jpg ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:00:11 +0000

Cornwall (in SW England) has had an unexpected jobs boom which has been assisted by telecommuting. For example, many of the specialist firms which support London’s publishing industry have re-located to nice old buildings in nice old villages with views of hills, waves and forests.

By: christine

christine — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:17:58 +0000

ps. Lawrence, the Powerhouse in Brisbane is actually located close to the city (central business district), however it is a good example of the re-adaptation potential of industrial building types. [ http://my247.com.au/brisbane/photos/Brisbane-Powerhouse.6664 ]

The Powerhouse (marked in green) is located on the river on adjacent to New Farm Park (marked in blue).
[ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Pw4OV7kWsWM/ShzPBR8o1-I/AAAAAAAAE9s/jdij0UEqxUk/s400/New+Farm.jpg ]

By: christine

christine — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:06:04 +0000

It is rather strange that in the internet age jobs are still so location specific! Nice places to live also come with investment in properties. So a well paid job could intrinsically assist with a nice place to both live.

Typical discourse on telecommuting suggests working from home as the model, rather than specifying geographic remoteness as the defining factor. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommuting ] Geographically separated employment opportunities could assist with investment in ‘derelict’ factories and office conversions etc providing nice places to work.

Perhaps the mapping of character areas (office, factory, shop, farm etc) also needs to map workplaces and work type densities? (professional, agricultural, manufacturing etc)

The link between residential and economic densities of course, is the ‘communication’ between the two locations (whether physical transportation or virtual connection and how and when it occurs.)

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:02:00 +0000

The population of Germany is declining generally because of low birth rates, added to this is economic migration, perhaps accelerated by the fact that childless people are more mobile. It has proven much more difficult than anticipated to bring the economic performance of the former east to a level where it can compete equally with the west and once young people start to leave in search of better prospects a self-perpetuating cycle is quickly established. The former steel producing areas of the west – on which Germany’s post-war boom was based – have been heavily subsidized since the decline of the steel industry. These subsidies have not seeded many sustainable economic activities and now that the country can’t afford the subsidies any more the industrial areas are now experiencing the recession that they would otherwise have had several decades ago, with the result that the young are leaving these areas too. The Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/22115412@N05/4934536058/ ] is an example of how such subsidies have been used to create a unique landscape park.

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Thu, 05 May 2011 04:57:40 +0000

The population of the UK is rising but (1) it is rising fastest in London (by 7% in the 1990s, which was decade before the last published census) (2) the other large conurbations lost 2.1% of their population (eg Tyne and Wear lost 4.1%). (3) outside the conurbations, the fastest rise (6.1%) was in ‘remoter mainly rural’ areas. Info from http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cbcb/census1.pdf The authors conclude that ‘the older industrial areas of the North face significant barriers to regrowing the econcomy’. People want well-paid jobs and nice places to live. They do not want to live in areas of derelict factories and decling employment opportunities. I guess this is what is happening in Germany.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:18:22 +0000

Lawrence why are these areas of Germany depopulating? Are young people moving away (to other regions/cities/nations)? Are the activities of these areas changing? (Less agricultural and heavy industrial activity – due to changing farming practices or off-shoring of heavy industry – potentially leading to carbon leakage.) Is an ageing population dying at a faster rate than replacement birth rates?

Tom, I agree mapping into character areas and illustrating residential zones within cities and determining the residential population density would be useful. Potentially it would enable more meaningful analysis and comparisons to be made.

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:30:26 +0000

Berlin (both former west and former east) and most but not all of the surrounding county of Brandenburg are still attracting people. The former eastern counties are depopulating at a faster rate than the western, but certain districts such as the former heavy industrial areas of the western Nordrhein-Westfalen are catching up.